Facing a Tough Web Converting Challenge? You Need to Know About Specialty Rolls from PRS

Many web-based manufacturing processes rely on standard rolls to guide, support, and process materials efficiently. These precision rolls often play a critical role in maintaining consistent web tension and ensuring trouble-free production processes across countless industries. 

However, situations sometimes arise in which even greater precision or more specific functionalities are required for the process to function as intended. In those cases, a more customized, precision-engineered solution is called for. 

At PRS, we refer to these highly customizable roll solutions as specialty rolls. These rolls are engineered to perform a specific function beyond a standard roll, such as:

• Thermal transfer rolls, used to heat or chill the web
• Vacuum tension rolls (also called vacuum pull rolls), used to maintain web tension on delicate materials using a vacuum

Specialty rolls are used in a variety of industries, such as printing, automotive, and packaging.

In this article, we’ll explore custom and specialty rolls’ use cases and unique capabilities, as well as the collaborative process of working with the roll experts at PRS to design, craft, and integrate specialty rolls into customers' processes to ensure they meet even the most demanding specifications.

What’s So Special About Custom & Specialty Rolls?

Custom, precision-engineered specialty rolls are tailored to meet unique process requirements that standard rolls are not designed to address.

Unlike standard rolls, which are designed for more general process requirements and manufacturing environments, specialty rolls incorporate advanced features to solve specific challenges and optimize performance. Specialty rolls are highly customized to incorporate advanced features to solve specific challenges and enhance efficiency, safety, and product quality in virtually any web-based manufacturing application.

Here are a few ways specialty rolls “go the extra mile” to address complex and demanding challenges:

Product quality – Consistent tension, uniform coatings, and precise material handling all contribute to higher quality finished products. Precision engineering ensures your specialty rolls meet exact specifications to support product quality improvements.

Efficiency – Custom-engineered rolls can target and optimize specific processes that often lead to process bottlenecks or slow-downs, helping to reduce downtime and increase throughput. Efficient heat transfer is just one way your specialty roll can help you optimize. Custom rolls can be designed to address exacting process requirements, harsh or demanding environments, or uniquely challenging materials.

Safety – Nip points, also called pinch points, are hazardous areas where rotating parts, such as rollers or gears, come into close contact with one another. The narrow gap created can pose a safety risk where objects — or an operator’s body parts — can be easily pulled in if they come too close. 

Advanced designs like vacuum tension rolls (VTRs) can eliminate those nip points, enhancing worker safety and reducing the risk of injury. By maintaining consistent tension and preventing slippage, vacuum tension rolls ensure safe and smooth operations.

Specialty Rolls: Who Needs Them? 

Specialty rolls find applications across a wide and ever-expanding range of industries, each with its unique requirements and challenges.

For example, in printing, it’s crucial to maintain precise web tension. Specialty rolls effectively prevent misalignment and ensure high-quality printing results across various techniques, including flexographic, gravure, and offset printing.

In the automotive industry, specialty rolls are tapped for processes that involve laminating, coating, embossing, assembling components, and more. Their precision is often needed to ensure uniform tension and high-quality finishes, essential for demanding automotive manufacturing standards.

When it comes to flexible packaging, specialty rolls can help produce higher-quality, more durable products. Precise and consistent tension helps prevent defects like wrinkles and uneven thickness in materials like films and foils. Similarly, in textile manufacturing applications, specialty rolls handle delicate fabrics and ensure precise control during dyeing, printing, and finishing processes. They help maintain fabric integrity to produce top-quality textile products.

Rolls designed especially for food packaging ensure films and foils are processed without tearing or stretching, maintaining the integrity of the packaging materials. This helps ensure the packaging effectively protects food products, preserves freshness, and meets stringent hygiene and safety standards.

Speaking of hygiene and safety, medical and pharmaceutical manufacturers have to meet some of the strictest standards — and custom rolls can be crafted from materials that can withstand sterilization, even as they deliver consistent tension and precise handling of sensitive materials.

Precision Engineering Demands a Collaborative Partnership

Working with PRS to develop specialty rolls involves a rigorous, collaborative process to ensure that the rolls meet the precise needs of the application. Here’s a step-by-step overview of our process:

1. Needs Assessment

Engineers at PRS work closely with customers to understand the unique requirements of the application. This involves analyzing material properties, process conditions, and desired outcomes. The goal is to identify the specific challenges that need to be addressed, and where and how to most effectively address the issues.

2. Design and Prototyping

Based on the needs assessment, our engineers develop a custom roll design that incorporates advanced features tailored to the application’s requirements. In this step, prototyping and testing may be repeatedly conducted to ensure the design meets the required specifications and performs as expected.

3. Guidance on Material Selection

The choice of materials impacts the performance and durability of any roll, including specialty rolls. When you need help, the roll experts at PRS can advise on your selection of high-quality materials that can withstand specific process conditions such as extreme temperatures, corrosive environments, and/or strict hygiene standards.

4. Manufacturing by Roll Experts

Once the design is finalized, a custom roll is manufactured using precision techniques. Meticulous quality control measures ensure the roll meets specifications, delivers on tight tolerances, and performs reliably in the intended application.

5. Implementation and Support

After manufacturing, the custom roll is integrated into the customer’s manufacturing process. PRS can provide ongoing support and maintenance to ensure optimal performance and roll longevity. This typically includes regular inspections, adjustments, and troubleshooting to address any issues that could arise.

Partner with PRS for Precision-Engineered Specialty Rolls

If your process demands the extra performance capabilities of specialty rolls, look for a team with proven expertise and a custom design process that begins with a conversation about your processes and specifications. PRS’s roll experts can help you identify the root cause of your challenge and design a roll to meet it. 

When you partner with PRS, you gain access to advanced engineering solutions tailored to your specific needs. Contact us today to discuss your web process requirements and discover how PRS can help you achieve optimal performance with custom-engineered specialty rolls.